Check Your Route for Sex Offenders
Add the stops of the walk and get a free count of registered sex offenders along it. Names along the route are included with Family Watch.
registered within 2 blocks of this route
Sex offender route check: count the whole walk, not one address. You enter the stops; the search follows the line between them.
A registry map built around one address draws a circle. A trick-or-treat loop or a walk to school is a line — it leaves the circle at one end and passes streets the circle never reaches. Searching by route counts the people registered along the streets you will actually use.
Enter your stops
Start where you leave from, add each corner or stop in order, and finish where the walk ends. A trick-or-treat loop, a walk to school and a bus-stop route all work the same way.
Get the free count
See how many registered sex offenders live along the route, at no cost and without a card. For many parents the number alone is enough to plan the walk.
See who, if you want to
With Family Watch, see each person's name, photo, offense, registered address, distance from the route and nearest stop — included alongside the 3 addresses it watches.
- Choose how close counts: within about 1 block, 2 blocks or a quarter mile of the route, and switch between them any time.
- Add a stop at each turn: the search joins your stops with straight lines, so a stop at every corner keeps the line on your streets.
- Walk this route: on a paid route, keep the page open while you walk and it highlights the registered addresses within about a block of you. Your location stays on your phone.
- Print or save the list to carry with you, and share the count with neighbors — the share picture shows the route outline and the number only, never names or addresses.
How to plan a trick-or-treat route, and check it for sex offenders. Eight steps, a week ahead.
Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday, so expect more children out, and out earlier, than on a school night. Plan the route while it is still light, and walk it once if the streets are new to you.
State Halloween rules for registrants are on the Halloween safety check and each state’s page.
- Pick a loop, not a line. A loop that ends near home means a tired child is never a long walk from the door. For young children, a few blocks is plenty.
- Choose streets with porch lights and sidewalks. Lit streets with steady foot traffic beat a shortcut through a park, an alley or an unlit cul-de-sac.
- Mark your stops. Write down where you start, each turn and where you finish. Those stops are exactly what the route search asks for.
- Check the route. Enter the stops and get the free count. If you want to see who lives along it, open the details and check the official record for anyone who concerns you.
- Adjust if you want to. Moving the loop one street over is easy a week ahead and hard at 7 p.m. in costume.
- Set the rules with the kids. Stay together, never go inside a house or near a car, and come straight to the adult if anyone makes them uncomfortable.
- Agree on time and a meeting point. Older kids going without an adult need a set route, a check-in time, a charged phone and a place to meet if the group splits.
- Be seen. Reflective tape and a flashlight on every costume; cars are the danger most likely to hurt a child on Halloween night.
What a sex offender map along your route shows, and what it can’t. Awareness for planning, never a list of doors.
What the route search shows
- How many registered sex offenders live along the route — free.
- With the details: each person’s name and photo when the registry publishes one.
- The offense and the registered address, as the state lists them.
- How far each person lives from the route, so a house on the route reads differently from one three streets away.
What no registry can tell you
- Anyone who isn’t required to register. Most children who are harmed know the person who harmed them.
- Where someone is at a given hour. A registered address is where a person lives, not where they are on Halloween night or at 8 a.m.
- A move that hasn’t been reported yet. Registrants report changes on the schedule their state sets.
- Whether a route is “safe”. A count of zero means nobody is registered along it, not that nothing can happen.
Halloween rules for sex offenders on trick-or-treat night. A few state laws; more often parole and probation conditions.
There is no national Halloween law for registrants. A small number of states have laws, and more often a corrections department sets Halloween conditions for the people it supervises on parole or probation — not for everyone on the registry. These are the rules we have confirmed at each state’s own source:
| State laws | Parole and probation conditions |
|---|---|
| Illinois: Illinois law bars a child sex offender from taking part in holiday events involving children, and names handing out candy on Halloween specifically.Louisiana: Louisiana law makes it a crime for a person convicted of certain sex offenses to give candy or gifts to children on Halloween and other gift-giving holidays.Missouri: Missouri is one of the few states with a Halloween law that applies to every person required to register, not only people on parole or probation. | Corrections departments in California, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia announce Halloween conditions for the people they supervise — typically a curfew, porch lights off, no candy and no events with children. |
It helps to keep the risk in proportion. A 2009 study of police-reported crime in 30 states over nine Halloweens (Chaffin, Levenson, Letourneau and Stern, Sexual Abuse) found no increase in sex crimes against children on or around Halloween. Traffic is the larger danger that night, which is why the route plan above spends as much time on lit streets and visible costumes as on the registry.
Counties and cities can add their own ordinances. This is general information, not legal advice.
Sex offenders near your child’s walk to school: checking a school route. The same search, for every school day.
A walk to school is the route a child takes most often, usually on their own or with friends. Enter home, the corners where they cross and the school entrance as stops, and check the line between them — including the shortcut they actually take, not only the one you would choose.
Many states and cities limit how close some registrants may live to a school, but the rules vary widely and often cover only certain offenses or people on supervision. A registered address near a school route is not, by itself, a sign that anyone is breaking a rule.
A school-route checklist
- Walk the route together the first week and point out the corners and crossings that matter.
- Use the school’s recommended walking routes and crossing-guard corners where it publishes them.
- Walk in a group: a neighbor’s child, a sibling or an organized walking school bus.
- Agree on one route and no shortcuts through empty lots or parks.
- Name a few safe places on the way — a school, a store, a neighbor you know — to go to if anything feels wrong.
- Talk about it: no going with anyone, no getting into a car, and always tell you.
Sex offenders near a school bus stop: what parents can check. Home to the stop, and the minutes at it.
The stretch a bus rider walks alone is short but daily: from the door to the stop and back, plus the wait. Enter home and the stop as two stops and check that line.
Check the walk to the stop
Home to the stop is a two-stop route. If the stop changes mid-year, check the new one too.
Cover the wait
Younger children wait with an adult or with neighbors. Older ones wait in a group, in sight of a house they know.
Talk to the district
Transportation offices set stop locations. If something on the route worries you, ask them about the stop, not a neighbor.
Some states write bus stops into law. South Carolina, for example, requires a school district to give the parents of bus riders the names and addresses of registered sex offenders living within 1,000 feet of their stop, or a link to the registry (S.C. Code § 23-3-535(F)). Rules differ by state; check with your district.
Route sex offender search price: the count is free. Pay once only if you want to see who.
The count along your route
How many registered sex offenders live along the stops you enter. No card.
See who is along the route
Names, photos, offenses, addresses and each person’s distance from the route, included with Family Watch — up to 3 addresses with email alerts. Or $6.99 a month.
Just your home address
For one address rather than a route, see sex offenders near me: everyone within 30 miles, with photos, a map and a PDF.
Route sex offender check FAQ: questions parents ask. Trick-or-treat, school and bus-stop routes.
How do I check my trick-or-treat route for sex offenders?
Write down the stops of the walk in the order you will take them — the house you start from, the corners you turn at, the street where you finish. Enter those stops in the route search and you get a free count of the registered sex offenders who live along the whole route. If you want to know who they are, you can see their names, photos, offenses, addresses and how far each one lives from the route.
Is there a sex offender map for a route, not just an address?
Yes. Most registry maps search a circle around one address, which misses the far end of a long walk and over-counts streets you will never use. A route search follows the line between your stops instead, so the count is for the streets you will actually walk.
Is checking a route free?
The count is free: how many registered sex offenders live along the route. Seeing who they are — names, photos, offenses, addresses and each person's distance from the route — is included with Family Watch ($34.99 a year, or $6.99 a month), which also watches up to 3 addresses with email alerts, so the names are there for the whole trick-or-treat week and the first month of school.
Do sex offenders have to turn their lights off on Halloween?
Only where a law or a supervision condition says so. Missouri law requires every registrant to keep outside lights off after 5 p.m. on October 31. Corrections departments in California, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia set lights-off and no-candy conditions for people they supervise on parole or probation. Most registrants who have finished supervision are not covered by those conditions, so a dark porch tells you nothing either way.
Is it safe to trick-or-treat near a registered sex offender?
No search can tell you a street is safe. What research shows is that police-reported sex crimes against children do not rise on Halloween, and that the risk most likely to hurt a child that night is a car. A registry check is one part of a plan; the larger part is an adult along, kids in groups, lit streets and nobody going inside a house.
Should we skip the houses that show up on the route?
That is a family decision, and many parents simply plan the walk on other streets. Whatever you decide, the information is for planning, not for confronting anyone. Using registry information to harass, threaten or discriminate against anyone is prohibited by law.
Can I check my child’s school bus stop for sex offenders?
Yes. Enter your home and the bus stop as two stops, or the whole walk from home to the stop to the school. The count covers the people registered along that line, which is the stretch where your child walks or waits without a teacher.
What should I do if a registered sex offender lives on my child’s walk to school?
Start with the facts: open the details, check the official record and note how far from the route the person lives. Then decide what changes, if any, make sense — walking with your child, a walking group, a different street, or asking the school about bus service or a crossing guard. If you believe someone is breaking a registration rule, tell the local police or sheriff rather than acting on it yourself.
Does a route search work if the route crosses into another state?
Yes. Each search covers the 58 US registries — the 50 states, DC and the territories — so a route that crosses a state line, or a neighbor who registered in another state, is still counted.
What does a registry search not tell me about my route?
It shows people who are required to register, at the address they registered. It does not show anyone who has never been convicted, where a person is at a given hour, or a move that has not been reported yet. Most children who are harmed are harmed by someone they already know, so supervision and conversations at home matter more than any list.
More sex offender searches for parents
Building for schools or apps? See the sex offender route API.
Results are not a consumer report and may not be used for employment, housing, credit or insurance decisions. Using registry information to harass, threaten or discriminate against anyone is prohibited by law.
Check your trick-or-treat route before the 31st
Enter your stops and see how many registered sex offenders live along the route — free, no card. Works for the walk to school all year.